Watson confirms "unrest" at Essendon as season comes to an end

Essendon great Tim Watson has confirmed the handling of Tom Bellchambers’ retirement has caused “unrest” among senior Bomber players.

As reported by SEN's Sam Edmund on Saturday, Cale Hooker and Michael Hurley were among those upset that the ruckman did not receive a farewell game.

Watson believes the Bombers’ coaching staff could have garnered a lot of goodwill by handing Bellchambers one last game.

“I think there’s unrest (at Essendon), but I think there’s always unrest when you underachieve as a group and then you’ve got to exit senior players, I think that can lead to unrest,” Watson told SEN Breakfast.

“There was certainly heartache around those who were long-term teammates of Tom Bellchambers – that’s real.

“I think they should have (given Bellchambers a farewell game). I saw in the interview at the weekend that Ben Rutten said Bellchambers had a disrupted year and his conditioning wasn’t there.

“I don’t think his conditioning was there, but when you can’t make the finals and you have got a long-term servant of the football club who has done the hard yards with your team, then I just think it’s a nice way to exit a player.

"If you exit players well in this game, then there is a level of gratitude that is then reciprocated and it then spreads through the group in terms of how you treat your players.

“I think that can lead to unrest in this instance because he’s a very popular bloke Bellchambers, particularly with those that have played with him for a long time, then I think that can lead to unrest.”

When asked whether veteran defender Hooker could move on in the trade period, given the unrest and his recent dropping from the side, Watson said “it’s a possibility that he will”.

“Maybe they don’t see him as part of their long-term or short-term, Cale Hooker,” the former club captain added.

Essendon finished the season winning only one of their last 10 games and will begin a new regime under Ben Rutten in 2021.